The New York Times Takes A Bold Stand

As traffic getting on to the Williamsburg Bridge backs up to La-fucking-Guardia Airport, let’s see what the editorial boards are saying.

The Post:

The fact is that TWU members, relative to MTA riders, simply don’t have it all that bad.

Just as most state and municipal employees don’t have it all that bad — certainly not relative to the state’s overburdened taxpayers.

Government in New York is unaffordable, or will be shortly — and the time to address the crisis is now.

New York City is to be paralyzed by a union that’s fighting to preserve the rights of people not yet even hired by the MTA to retire after just 25 years of employment: The notion would be laughable if it weren’t so serious.

That’s why Mayor Bloomberg reiterated the need for Albany to introduce some rationality on pensions — which TWU President Roger Toussaint at one point deemed to be a drop-dead strike issue.

Mayor Mike wants across-the-board pension reform for new government hires — and while he may be the only major elected official saying that out loud, others are pushing for it in private.

Reform would save the city billions — which is why so many of the public-employee unions have taken such an interest in the MTA-TWU bargaining.

And while pensions have become too rich for the blood of New York taxpayers, the problem is not just pensions.

The MTA also wants newly hired transit workers to contribute 2 percent of their wages to health-care premiums. Current workers contribute nothing — the most generous arrangement of any public-employee contract.

Notes Bloomberg, “Everybody’s discovering that they cannot afford some of the things in the past that they agreed to. People living longer makes the costs of pensions much greater. The cost of medical care continues to go up, so providing those benefits without co-pay is getting more and more problematic.”

Affordability aside, equity is also an issue: Nobody in the private sector enjoys benefits of that sort any longer — but it’s the private sector that ultimately pays the bills.

The TWU — and its brethren unions — must get the message now: There has to be a way of making 21st century government affordable for all concerned.

The Daily News is even more forceful:

The full weight of the law must swiftly be brought to bear on the Transport Workers Union for having the irresponsible lawlessness to shut down the transportation system that is New York’s lifeblood. Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg must seek severe sanctions against TWU President Roger Toussaint, his treasury and, sadly, the 33,700 workers who were thrown off a cliff by their leaders.

Pataki and Bloomberg must ask a judge to:

• Jail Toussaint and his bull-headed lieutenants.
• Impose fines on the TWU that double daily and are large enough to bankrupt the union within days.
• Hit every transit worker who walks with a penalty of two days’ pay for every day out, as the law allows.

Then, Pataki and MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow must hang tough. There can be no amnesty for those who have broken the law, disrupted the lives of millions, jeopardized public safety and dealt a blow to the city’s economy. There can be no making nice to extortionists.

The state Taylor Law bars strikes by public employees, so walking out would be unacceptable under any circumstance. Here, though, it is particularly outrageous because the MTA offered 3% wages hikes in each of three years, plus the opportunity to achieve larger increases through productivity savings.

Since 1999, transit worker salaries have more than kept pace with inflation, rising to an average of $63,000 for train operators and $54,000 for conductors. The MTA proposal would have boosted those numbers to $68,000 and $59,000 while opening the door to substantially more. Toussaint responded by demanding raises totaling more than 25% and refusing what he called givebacks.

Even so, the strike is not ultimately about wages. It’s about the MTA’s health and pension costs. Because both are skyrocketing, the agency faces a deficit of almost $1 billion despite planned fare hikes. Riders and taxpayers are going to get hammered unless expenses are brought into line. And that’s just fine with Toussaint & Co.

Transit workers contribute 2% of pay to pensions and can retire after 25 years at age 55. The MTA proposed requiring new employees — and only new employees — to stay on the job until 62 and contribute 3% to their pensions. And the agency would have softened the impact by making 1% matching contributions to workers’ retirement savings. The MTA also called for new employees to contribute 1% to health coverage, a minuscule amount in this day and age.

Toussaint rejected every reasonable proposal out of hand. There was no negotiating with him because he refused to negotiate. Now he’s about to lose a fight he never should have picked. And, tragically, transit workers are going to suffer the worst consequences.

Meanwhile, the Times op-ed page is . . . silent. Well fuck them, too, while we’re at it!

Meanwhile, the local television stations are reporting that the Tranport Workers Union parent organization told Toussaint not to strike. The Village Voice, for what it’s worth, says that this was just theater:

The TWU’s announcement of its action was delayed for nearly three hours as officials of the local union, which represents nearly 34,000 members, argued with representatives of the union’s parent body who said they wouldn’t support the strike.

At one point during the discussions, Toussaint and his allies on the local’s executive board feared the international union would order them not to strike at all, or perhaps seek to place the local under receivership if it did so. But union sources said an agreement was reached in which the international agreed to state its disagreement — a move aimed at insulating it from heavy fines — while allowing the local to pursue the job action. Toussaint declined to answer questions about the dispute after his announcement.

Update: this WCBS exclusive seems to contradict the Voice scoop, suggesting that Local 100’s parent union might take over the local and restart negotiations:

Sources within other large public employee unions tell CBS2 reporter Marcia Kramer that the TWU’s international leadership is considering taking over the local and seeking a settlement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Those sources say the upper level of the TWU thinks the MTA’s latest offer is fair and worthy of further consideration and negotiation. They stand against a militant faction within Local 100 that pressed hard for a strike.